Alright, I don't see a lot of activity in here maybe I can draw some of you out with a food thread.

I'm back in Vietnam after almost 7 years and I forgot how much I love the food here. I'll use this thread to post pics of some of my favorite or interesting foods of Vietnam.

Pho is probably my favorite dish in Vietnam, I can eat it anytime breakfast, lunch or dinner, it's just so good. I've traveled in the north, middle, and south of Vietnam and I love to experience the different interpretations on this staple dish of Vietnam.

I'm not a big fan of seafood so it's no surprise my eating tastes favor the north where Pho originates. :dg

Here is a historic (note the date) Pho restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). My father in law ate here back in the day so eating here has some meaning for me. He says the place hasn't changed much.

Last night we arrived in HCMC and got a quick pizza for dinner. Not very Vietnamese but good non the less. This morning we had breakfast in our hotel and was given some Pho with noodle and beef. It was good! I did not have my camera with me, but we are here for 5 weeks. Pictures will follow as we experience more local foods.

My next favorite dish is Hu Tieu, a pork noodle soup with the usual herbs, spices, and greens. A big bowl of Hu Tieu, as are most of the noodle dishes here, is satisfying and filling and chok full of antioxidants as well.

The main course is followed up with some home made mint yogurt (pictured in the background). Yum!

3rd, if youre with company (or really really hungry) sweet and sour hotpot is AWESOME.

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Thanks for the suggestion, your first 2 are not familiar to me. In the south we like the catfish hotpots. I'm not a big fan of catfish in practice but in this particular setting I find it quite tasty. I'll try to post some hot pot pics later.

Thanks for the suggestion, your first 2 are not familiar to me. In the south we like the catfish hotpots. I'm not a big fan of catfish in practice but in this particular setting I find it quite tasty. I'll try to post some hot pot pics later.

Keep em coming folks. Don't be afraid to post pics.

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On our 16 day ride, one of the days we took a break in Sapa. I randomly asked the hotel owner behind the counter if she knew of anything like a cooking clinic or class, and she offered for her niece to show us out of kindness. I was completely floored. She took us to the market to buy all the ingredients to make sweet and sour hotpot, everyone in the group pitched in to buy the ingredients. Then back at the hotel kitchen, she and her staff had us all huddle around as we watch and listen to the methods and instruction with what to do with all the ingredients. It was probably our best meal of the entire trip as a group.

Nice pics, shinbone! I love the area north of Hanoi, wish I coulda made it to Sa Pa last time I was in the north.

Here we have Bun Bo Hue, a spicy beef noodle soup.

*sorry for the bad iPhone pics.

If you haven't caught on I love spicy foods which is probably why Vietnamese food resonates with me. Still, I miss out on a lot of the food as I don't eat a lot of seafood which seems to the bulk of the diet in the south.

Maybe some of you seafood lovers can share some of your favorite foods here.

okay, I have a proper foto of Pho now. This is from my local Pho shop and it's the epitome of the taste for me. Clear fragrant broth, fresh noodles and herbs. And they have the proper condiments for the meal as well. I will eat here often during my stay in Vinh Long.

Also, would like to travel to Vietnam . . . . . . Uhmmm, how would you compare the cost of accommodations between Vietnam and a country of your choice in Central/South America, of relative value? ? ?

Do you have hassles getting a "fair" rate for accomidations in Vietnam ? ? ?

Well, I'm dating myself, but back in the late 80's & early 90's(when I lived in SE Asia) I heard first hand accounts of price gouging or the "skin tax" that (white) foreigners paid for their stay in Vietnam - So I never visited . . . . .

Haven't researched it, and not sure what the current situation is . . . . . . .

Vietnam is considerably cheaper than Latin America imo. I have family here so my experience is quite a bit different than the typical tourist. If you travel to the touristy places you may get a gringo tax but I don't think it's enough to be bothered about. A bowl of Pho costs about $1 here so you may get charged a $1.25. India seemed worse to me in this regard but it still wasn't enough to be bothered about.

I'm usually with my wife when I go to the touristy places so we pay as close as you can pay to local prices, she is an American afterall. When I'm on my own I'm usually in off the beaten track places and the people have always treated me fairly and are quite generous.

I'm staying in our house in Vinh Long now and like it here. There's not a lot of tourism here and those who do come stay on the river for the most part. I'm quite the novelty riding around town on my bike.

Its not skin tax. I'm constantly mistaken for Viet until they hear me speaking English. Any foreigner visiting will get charged the tourist rate. But, even tho I do get charged higher prices, its still loads cheaper than the US. Occasionally I'll get some astronomical price on something and I'll just smile and move on.

Traditional Vietnamese white rice. Normally, a Vietnamese uses two or three bowls of rice for lunch and dinner:

Cá c&#417;m kho khô - I don't really know how to translate into English, but to make this, use small fishes, put some salt, sugar, some fish sauce, some onion and some more water with color maker (from sugar), put all in to a closed pot, cook until all water evaporated and the fishes are left dry. This is to eat with white rice. Really nice. Need nothing more:

This is a special food of Hu&#7871; (a province in Middle of Vietnam).
It made from some sort of small mussel, mixing with some peanuts, sesame, onion.... This is to eat with rice crackers (as you see on the left). People not using spool to take the mussel, they use rice crackers to do that:

Bánh Tôm H&#7891; Tây - West Lake Shrimp cakes.
The special dish beside West lake in Hanoi Vietnam. Made by frying some flour and shrimp. Use with some vegetable and fish sauce.

And here also a special dish of Vietnam. I think it started from some where middle of Vietnam for the King. Then now every part of Vietnam has their own type.
Common name is Spring Roll (G&#7887;i cu&#7889;n).
Cooked pork, shrimp, some pickles, onion leaf, noodle, vegetable.... all rolled inside the rice cover. Used with special sauce.